CONVERSE, Texas — A Judson ISD mother said she’s frustrated because she says her daughter is late to school every day because of school bus delays. “This is an insane problem,” said Christina Cerda.
Cerda’s daughter is a junior at Judson High School, and said she takes the bus to school every morning, but it’s always late.
“She’s missing 30 minutes of class time. I can only imagine how much curriculum she is missing for that class,” Cerda said.
Nina Cerda said she is missing out on learning valuable lessons in her Advanced Placement English class. “I’m the only person that’s always late,” she said. “I’m completely lost because I didn’t get the same explanation everyone else did.”
To add to the frustration, Cerda said once the students arrive late to campus, they’re forced to stand in a long line to get a tardy pass before being allowed into class.
“I depend on transportation to get them where they need to be,” Cerda said. “The school provides it, we pay our taxes for this transportation, so why is it that they cannot be held liable to be on time?”
Judson ISD said they are aware of the transportation delays and are trying to find solutions. They said the delays are primarily caused by construction along 1604 from 1-35 to Rocket Lane and at TPC Parkway and Evans Road.
A district spokesperson said they cannot do anything about the construction, but are working to find alternate routes for drivers to avoid the traffic congestion. Another solution, which the district said that's already in progress, is adding at least nine more bus drivers.
Cerda said she’s upset because the school hasn’t responded to her concerns. “I did stress this to the attendance office, and they were like, ‘sorry ma’am this is just something that’s happening,’” she said.
The mother of five children drops her elementary-aged kids off at school but has to go to work and can't drop Nina off at Judson High School. “The fact that it continues to happen, and I’m not really getting any feedback from them that they’re working on a solution is frustrating,” she said.
Nina is just worried about possibly failing her AP English Class, and missing a chance to earn college credit hours. “I’m really trying to keep up with everyone else, but it’s troubling coming in every day, really late,” she said.
Judson ISD said the students are not being penalized for the tardies caused by bus delays.
A district spokesperson said the school is trying to get the students to class as quickly as possible when they arrive late.
"The issue is separately taking care of those students that are late because of that reason (buses), and other students tardy because of various other reasons," said Steve Linscomb with Judson ISD. "Judson High School is being told to facilitate the kids late because of buses quickly en masse with the slips so they can get going."
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